Rudhiram: Unravelling a vicious cycle of sins and vengeance

[00:00:11] Hello and welcome to Onmanorama Movie Podcast, Start, Action, Cut. Today we are decoding the Malayalam film Rudhiram, directed by Jishol Lone Antony and starring Aparna Balamurli and Raj Bishati in lead roles. And we have Princey here to discuss the film.

[00:00:30] Now, as for the film, it moved on a smooth course. It's a simple narrative that unravels a big story underneath through scan revelations.

[00:00:42] What I find is the actions evoke surprise but not intrigue. And we are not at all thrilled or absorbed by them.

[00:00:50] But we keep watching them blankly. What do you say, Princey? You had reviewed the movie and what do you have to add more to it?

[00:01:00] Okay, Fatma Kumar. You know, the first thing that actually came to my mind when I started watching the movie was how...

[00:01:06] I mean, I was led to understand that this was going to be quite a different experience.

[00:01:11] Because probably this has got to do with the opening shots of the movie. Of course, you have in the first scene, you have a baby supposedly abandoned,

[00:01:21] you know, crying near the seashore and that is a common trope in Indian cinema. But apart from that,

[00:01:27] the first few scenes immediately you introduced to a masked man who was entering into a hidden room where a young woman is kept as a slave,

[00:01:38] you know, probably for his sexual interest or something of that sort. So such kind of storylines are hardly explored in Indian cinema.

[00:01:47] And this is why I found the concept to be a little different.

[00:01:51] Yes. In fact, the whole ambience, how the plot evolves, it gives us an impression that there is going to be something.

[00:02:00] What I would like to say is, you know, people nowadays are quite open to different kinds of movies and

[00:02:06] Rudaram does definitely have that difference to make it appealing.

[00:02:11] But also, I would say that you will have to keep an open mind to go and watch the psychological thriller.

[00:02:17] So that kind of sums up what Rudaram is actually for the audience.

[00:02:22] Yes, true, Prinsy. At the outset itself, we get a feeling that there might be some ingredients that can thrill us.

[00:02:28] It's going to be somewhat different from the movies released recently.

[00:02:34] But as we move on, they are on the periphery of a big drama.

[00:02:38] And also, there are little things that are revealed.

[00:02:41] And I mean, there are no...

[00:02:43] We don't find many actions.

[00:02:46] And the dialogues are very, very less.

[00:02:49] The actions are also very less.

[00:02:50] So we sort of crave for more ingredients, more components inside.

[00:02:56] So what do you say? Even you had mentioned earlier that sort of similar movie, it showed the sequence is very thrilling and very absorbingly done.

[00:03:06] And you said that the second event that happens in the movie could have been avoided and co-ocussed on the first one itself, on Apanna Balamoli's character itself.

[00:03:18] I think that would have been a disaster.

[00:03:21] Because if Apanna's character alone was focused, there is nothing much to show.

[00:03:26] What do you say?

[00:03:27] So yes, Fatma Kumar, the movie that you mentioned right now, Room, it actually was nominated for four Oscars and won the award for Best Actress.

[00:03:35] So Room has a similar premise.

[00:03:36] And it is highly intriguing if you look at it because in this movie, the only focus is on one single stage.

[00:03:46] You have a young woman who is there in that room with her child and you have a perpetrator who has actually enslaved her in a single room for years.

[00:03:59] And how they are plotting their freedom.

[00:04:04] So in a way, when I started watching Rudiram and the first few scenes, it brought memories of Room.

[00:04:11] Because you have a similar kind of premise where Apanna Balamoli plays a character of Swati and she is actually stuck there in this confined space and she is really scared of a tormentor.

[00:04:22] And he comes in occasionally and tries to, he is a sadistic person.

[00:04:27] And you know, you really, you get that feeling that, you know, he is really gonna come and harm her and you know, he does harm her.

[00:04:34] So the movie has some similarities, but in terms of treatment here in the room, well, you know, they, the makers, they managed to actually, you know, keep the storyline intriguing by just focusing on those particular, the entire escape journey of that young woman and her child.

[00:04:55] And that, you know, like, I would like to get back to what you said, you can actually see whom as a testament of how you can actually focus on one certain aspect, without making it boring.

[00:05:07] And you know, they actually, as a viewer, you're continuously engaged with that filmmaking.

[00:05:12] So, definitely, it is one thing that I, what I believe is that, you know, this movie should not have actually focused a lot on the backstory because the backstory is where the makers, the filmmakers kind of, you know, they could not actually do justice to the entire movie as a whole.

[00:05:31] So, yeah.

[00:05:32] Yes, I do feel so because there are only two major main actors in the film.

[00:05:41] That's Raj B. Shetty and Aparna Balamurli and rest of the actors are not so A-listers in the film industry in Manala.

[00:05:48] And what keeps us who are the performances, both Aparna Balamurli and Raj B. Shetty, they have a brilliant performance.

[00:05:57] And yet, the drama slips to awkward narration on several occasions.

[00:06:02] Though it moves on a three-shade, predictable track, it gives out some undeniably intense moments of cinematic brilliance through one-liners and monologues and dialogues and subtle expressions.

[00:06:15] And the graphic, I mean, CGI, the mouse, it was very brilliant.

[00:06:21] It didn't feel like, I mean, a computer-generated creature.

[00:06:24] And also the dog.

[00:06:26] So, that's what I feel.

[00:06:28] The performance, regarding the performance, what do you find exceptional?

[00:06:32] I think after a long time, Aparna Balamurli gave a splendid performance.

[00:06:38] She acted out the agony and the pain of a person, I mean, in confinement.

[00:06:45] And also Raj B. Shetty, he plays the eccentric psycho.

[00:06:50] But I feel that the justice, he was seeking revenge on what he went through during his childhood.

[00:06:56] And even though that was his case, I think there was some poetic justice missing towards the end.

[00:07:03] What do you say?

[00:07:03] So, Patma Kumar, I would like to start off by speaking about the performances of the lead actors here.

[00:07:10] And definitely I echo what you said about Aparna Balamurli's performance.

[00:07:15] Because she delivered even an award-worthy performance in this movie.

[00:07:22] And she has essayed her role brilliantly.

[00:07:25] And she is able to emote well.

[00:07:27] And you really are in the character.

[00:07:30] You are able to feel her.

[00:07:33] You are able to understand her emotions.

[00:07:36] You know, imagine staying inside a confined space for hours or months or days.

[00:07:42] I mean, and she has brilliantly caught that.

[00:07:46] And definitely that is good.

[00:07:48] And I am also glad.

[00:07:49] I would like to, you know, thank the makers for actually giving her a really good screen space in this movie.

[00:07:56] And maybe like we had already discussed in our previous podcast, Suksh Madarshini, Malayalis,

[00:08:02] we should be happy that our makers are giving enough and more space to women in Malayalam cinema nowadays.

[00:08:08] And Aparna Balamurli's Swadhi is definitely one more addition to that list.

[00:08:14] And if you look at Raj B. Shetty, what I understand is that Rudaram was the first Malayalam movie that he announced.

[00:08:22] Though Turbo and Kondil another Malayalam movie released in between.

[00:08:28] And all these characters, especially in Turbo, he plays a villain.

[00:08:31] And here also you get to see the dark shades of his character.

[00:08:35] And what I like most is even though Raj is actually playing negative roles at a stretch,

[00:08:41] there's a little difference with which he actually plays them.

[00:08:44] And he's also very careful, I believe, in how he's choosing those negative characters.

[00:08:49] That you don't feel like he's getting stereotyped in any way.

[00:08:53] So definitely those, in terms of performances, they actually both delivered well.

[00:09:01] And if you look at the, and just like you mentioned about the CGI, the brilliance,

[00:09:06] definitely I think the technique, you know, one of the aspects about Rudaram is it's the technical quality

[00:09:12] and the cinematography and all that, it's brilliantly done.

[00:09:16] Even when we just spoke just now about, you know, the second half and, you know, the way the makers treated the backstory.

[00:09:25] Yes, maybe it's because of the treatment of the backstory that we feel that, you know,

[00:09:31] there is no much poetic justice served in his case, you know.

[00:09:36] So, yeah, that's what I actually feel.

[00:09:38] Yes, I do like the cinematography and we witness a lot of, I mean, magical frames.

[00:09:47] But it, as a story, it didn't have the intensity and it actually had a scope to make it big in that ambience and the plot.

[00:09:58] But it is the chance to evolve to a poignant cinematic fare by a treatment that looks so pedestrian.

[00:10:05] So, that brings us to the end of this episode.

[00:10:08] Thanks for listening to Start Action Cut produced and hosted by me, Patma Kumar.

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[00:10:17] and be sure to come back for the next episode of Start Action Cut out on Mondays.

[00:10:22] Thank you.